Boaters, and particularly those operating in regions of high tides and turbulent waters, have always had difficulties in mooring their boat along side docks. A variety of line arrangements and accessories such as bumpers are known and used, but boats are often still damaged by shifting winds, tides and waves. In addition, most known mooring arrangements do not provide security against theft of the boat while moored along side a dock.
By use of a pair of unique mooring devices which we have invented, a boat can be quickly and securely moored at a dock without use of any lines, bumpers or similar gear conventionally used to moor a boat. Use of our mooring devices stabilize the boat, practically eliminating all but vertical movement of the boat. Thus the boat is prevented from bumping against the dock, getting caught beneath the dock at low tide and sinking when the tide rises, or breaking loose during rough weather. Our devices also include arrangements for locking the boat to the dock to deter theft.
Moreover, being preferably constructed of polyvinyl chloride piping, nylon and stainless steel, our mooring devices are impervious to sun, sea water, wind and other corrrosive elements. Fashioned like pistons, as the boat moves with the wind or turbulent water or rises or falls with the tide, our mooring devices work independently of each other and expand or contract to accommodate the boat's movement fore and aft. They are especially effective with sailboats which, because of their tall masts, have more movement from side to side.
We are aware that suggestions have been made in the past to use a piston arrangement to secure a boat to a dock. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,139,852 and 4,144,831. However, so far as we are aware such prior art devices have not been available on the market. To the contrary, our mooring devices have been constructed and tested in the Florida sun, salt waters and tides and found eminently satisfactory. Moreover, the construction of our mooring devices is uniquely different from known prior art devices and for this reason we believe function in a superior manner.
Briefly stated, our mooring device consists of an assembly which includes an elongated cylinder made of polyvinyl chloride pipe, two cylindrical nylon pistons within the cylinder, two stainless steel piston rods, each connected to one of the pistons and their other end connected to either the boat or the dock, and two helical coiled springs within the cylinder, one spring surrounding the piston rod whose end is connected to the boat and the other spring floating between the two pistons.
Preferably a nylon bushing designed to float within the cylinder surrounds the piston rod which connects to the boat. The bushing is located between the end of the spring surrounding the piston rod and the end of the cylinder.
To facilitate connecting our mooring device to the boat and to the dock, the outer end portion of the piston rod to be attached to the boat is bent at an angle of approximately 135.degree. and the end of each piston rod includes a member of the same diameter as the piston rod but which lies at right angle to the axis of the piston rod. Each of these members has a smoothly rounded nose and a hole drilled diametrically across the member a short distance back of the nose.
To moor a boat to a dock using our mooring devices, two identical brackets are preferably mounted fore and aft along the gunwale of the boat and a complementary pair of brackets mounted on the dock. A cylindrical hole sized to accommodate the member on the end of each piston rod is drilled through an upright flange on each bracket. Thus, with the boat along side the dock, the ends of each piston rod are slipped through the holes in the brackets on the boat and on the dock and secured by a pin or the hasp of a padlock.
The boat is now secured to the dock and held in position away from collision with the dock and yet free to ride up and down with the tide or from side to side due to water turbulence or waves.